A Look at Popular Baby Names That Have Remained Relevant Over the Years

Baby names, and their popularity trends, make for a very interesting study. Incidentally, when we talk of popular baby's forenames, what we are referring to are simply the names that everyone seems to be giving their new born baby. Some seem to enjoy near universal popularity. Others seem to be names whose popularity is limited to certain regions. But the defining feature is that almost everyone seems to fancy them, and when occasion arises, everyone seems to select one such name for their baby.

Turning back to baby's forename popularity trends, we encounter some names that prove popular for one generation or so, before their popularity wanes. Then we encounter others whose popularity seems to hold over time. They are names our grandparents loved to give their kids (our parents). They are names our parents loved to give us. And they are the names we still feel inclined to give to our kids. Often, the popularity of these names is such that we come to regard them as 'ordinary.' Here, we are looking at a name such as Mary for girls and Peter for boys. These are simple names, but they are popular. You take any sample of people in some cities, and as long as it is a random sample, you know that you will definitely have some Marys and some Peters. It is almost a guaranteed thing.

Such names wouldn't be particularly remarkable, were it not for the fact that there are other names which also qualify to be termed as popular baby's forenames, but whose popularity seems to be temporary. There are names that are currently trending, but which we can bet won't be popular ten years, or even five, years down the line. That is how we end up with a situation where, in some places, many girls (now elderly ladies) born in the 1950s were named Magdalene, at a time when that was a popular name. Yet, in many of those places today, that same name would be considered 'odd' and 'old fashioned.'